Could Derek Carr be a post-June 1 cut? (1 Viewer)

[St. Widge]

Whatever the team needs to do to put Rattler as QB1, and save money over the next few seasons is what we need to do. Rattler has at least shown he’s got talent and passion, is he great? Not from what we’ve seen so far. But I’d argue that he can definitely develop into a solid starter. The time to trim dead weight and start rebuilding is now.

Cutting Carr doesn't really save any money it just pushes more dead cap into future years which is exactly what people don't want Loomis to do. The most reasonable thing to do is keep Carr this year. If Rattler beats him out, great Carr can be the #2 QB. But if Rattler isn't ready you have a solid starting QB.

 

[B4YOU]

Here's a good read on one opinion:

Looking at the Saints Salary Cap Situation | Over the Cap

Looking at the Saints Salary Cap Situation | Over the Cap

overthecap.com

Good article, but the idea that Carr is going to agree to losing 28.5M to reduce his salary and be post-June 1 cut is ludicrous. He has zero incentive to take that deal. He wants to play football and no team (except us) will pay him 40M to play next year.

 

[SigFreudianSlip]

You have to be under the cap before June 1st.

BTW if you are going to eat anyone's salary, and not push it forward, it should probably be the guy that can't play football anymore.

You’ll have to be more specific. Based on what we’ve seen this season that would be close to 53 players.

 

[Rouxble]

Good article, but the idea that Carr is going to agree to losing 28.5M to reduce his salary and be post-June 1 cut is ludicrous. He has zero incentive to take that deal. He wants to play football and no team (except us) will pay him 40M to play next year.

He didn’t budge on any of his contract details for Vegas when they were trying to move on from him, so like you, I doubt it would be any different for his team of two years. His $30m salary becomes guaranteed on the third day of the league year, he has all the leverage (as he did against the Raiders).

 

[Bill]

We honestly need to do nothing, restructure nothing, be the worst team in the NFL next year, let these bad salaries clear

I agree.
And the results from doing that are (primarily) two-fold...

1.) It will be hard to find an interested suitor for the head coaching position because he'll have to accept that it will take at least a year before any serious rebuild can begin. But he will know that he will have a free pass with absolutely zero expectations for 2025.

2.) By being the worst team next season it's likely that we will be on the board very early in the 2026 draft. Then it will be the new coach's time to shine by getting some good hand-selected picks and having a workable salary cap situation to make some deals on the free agent market.

While it's hard to think of our 30-something, Geritol Bunch as being old, there's two things that make it hard to justify keeping them beyond their prime. One is that they generally demand much more of the monetary resources to purchase your team, and Two, they are a ticking 'performance' time bomb that could detonate at any time. Despite their experience, knowledge, & desire, once the physical drop-off begins they quickly can become a liability at the position they play. This is a young man's game and it's very hard to keep a window for possible championships open for very long. Every single year we need to be looking for young replacements that can be groomed to fill the spots of those who will soon be affected by Father Time.

It's hard to create the perfect storm of top training & talent within your franchise in order to field a truly competitive team year in and year out. But the way we've been trying to do that lately has been extremely expensive and it obviously isn't working. We need a better plan... and a lot of good luck to go with it.

 

[Bill]

How many playoff appearances has Carr had in his career? Average QB at best.

True. But no one in their right mind is expecting the Saints to be competing for anything next year. It'll be a burner season where you could literally put any quarterback behind center and have the same result. If we all go into 2025 with that reality in mind it will make it a lot easier to accept keeping Carr while waiting for better options in 2026.

 

[ASaintFerLife]

We honestly need to do nothing, restructure nothing, be the worst team in the NFL next year, let these bad salaries clear

We have no choice but to restructure some ppl Just to get cap compliant.

 

[SirLoinSaint64]

It seems like the Saints can't cut a guy.................so they extend him..................and then they can't cut him next year. At some point you have to bite the bullet, get rid of the overpaid, underperforming players that led you to a 5-12 record and move on. Even if it means another 5-12 season. What the front office is doing isn't working.

 

[EvilMike]

All of this to field a 5 and 12 team. Don't restructure anyone, that's what got them in this mess in the first place

 

[BoNcHiE]

You save one million cutting him and the structure doesn’t allow a straight June 1st cut.

There’s no point. Better to ask him to take a pay cut, which is actually something he’d probably do given he isn’t pulling a big contract in FA if he’s released.

He and Jordan both need to take pay cuts. And if they don’t, using June 1st cuts just screws up 2026.

 

[Rouxble]

You save one million cutting him and the structure doesn’t allow a straight June 1st cut.

There’s no point. Better to ask him to take a pay cut, which is actually something he’d probably do given he isn’t pulling a big contract in FA if he’s released.

He and Jordan both need to take pay cuts. And if they don’t, using June 1st cuts just screws up 2026.

Keep in mind that, in addition to his $10m guaranteed roster bonus, his $30m salary becomes fully guaranteed on the third day of the league year. He wouldn't budge on his contract for the Raiders, I don't expect him to do it for us either.

His agent has to know how much work it will take for us to get under the cap if we want to move on, which is even more leverage for Carr. I would be very impressed if Loomis could negotiate a clean cut in 2025 pay (no extensions) given the circumstances.

 

[Cajun Mike]

He can't be released with our cap structure for 50M in dead cap. We can't designate him as a post-June 1 cut prior to the new year in March and we can't get cap compliant without restructuring at least part of his contract. The best we can do is a limited restructure like 20M instead of 30M+ and hope there is cap space in 2026 to release him.

Another reason to fire Loomis

 

[BayouSAINTJoe]

Unfortunately he's our best QB...but that's what happens when you let a known loser handpick his QB.

He's ours until at least 2027 - that hurt to say aloud

 

[tim martin]

We honestly need to do nothing, restructure nothing, be the worst team in the NFL next year, let these bad salaries clear

agreed but with carr we win 7 games and never get a top 5 pick for a qb

 

[sfidc3]

Carr may not be the answer, but he is perfect to build a solid roster around him, and give time for recruiting and/or develop a young Qb.

We need a solid offensive line and more weapons before giving the qb position to a rookie.

This above, it would be foolish to cut Carr at this point.....